SBM Angels in Operation

What started out as a normal sunny day in NYP, ended with an experience to remember for approximately 100 students involved in Operation SBM.

What exactly is Operation SBM? It is an event organized by the SBM Club to educate preschoolers on the importance of cherishing Earth.

On 22th July 2015 at 1.30pm, those who signed up for the voluntary event, gathered at the SBM Club room. Everyone was then allocated one of four different groups.

Next, Accountancy and Finance student Rebecca Ong, one of the team leaders, passed out the instructions. Volunteers were to wear the free �Angel in Operation� t- shirts being distributed, and the four groups were to converge into two groups. Groups 1 and 4 became one group, while Groups 2 and 3 became another group.

Groups 1 and 4 were assigned to clean up designated NYP classrooms, while Groups 2 and 3 were assigned to help preschoolers, from Learning Vision Centre, create and decorate cards dedicated to Mother Nature.

Being in Group 3, I could hear my friends cooing when we met the little children from Learning Vision Centre. They were really adorable, honestly, and although I felt nervous as I have not worked with kids before, I was excited to embrace whatever awaited me.

Thankfully, I managed to gain the confidence to ask them their names. During my time spent with them, I noticed that one of my little friends, in his message, wrote �Dear God� instead of addressing it to Mother Nature. That surprised me! However, I left his words as they were.

Work-in-progress

Two girls proudly holding their fancy cardboard cards made for Mother Nature

And here�s one of the finished artworks made together with a boy I had assisted! Not too bad right? :)

Malcolm Teo Zhi Hao, from Diploma in Banking & Finance, said: �It was a very interesting and fun experience to interact with the kids because it reminded me of my childhood days.�

After we helped the kids with their cards, we swapped tasks with the other group.  We proceeded to help clean certain classrooms, while the other group brought the kids to watch a video about recycling at Block D.

Hospitality & Tourism student Ng Wei Ming said: �The cleaning part was not too bad. The recycling video was quite entertaining and taught the kids how to create flower vases or sand-scoops with used plastic bottles.�

After cleaning the classrooms, we also put up posters to encourage students to keep our campus clean. Here is how they look!

After that was done, everyone gathered together and we were rewarded with tasty treats!

Sweets for the kids

                                                   A snack feast for us

And chilled cans of red bull for us to replenish our energy!

Afterwards, flowers as well as appreciation cards were given to the cleaners around SBM, to thank them for doing their jobs and keeping our school clean and conducive for learning.

After the operation, I learnt that cleaning places is really not easy. After doing it only for an hour, it felt really tedious. I cannot imagine how the cleaners in school manage to do it every day. I began to realise that I�ve always taken the cleanliness in school for granted.

Now I really appreciate their hard work and I hope other students and visitors to NYP would do likewise. We must support those who are working to keep our environments clean and green as well.

�I felt that today�s event was a success, and I'm really happy and appreciative to see students take time off to volunteer for this event. I hope everyone enjoyed themselves and learnt something from today. I�m glad the efforts put in by my team and I paid off well,� said Rebecca Ong from the planning team.

Thanks to the planning team behind Operation SBM, I honestly had a great experience mingling with kids, together with my friends! I also hope that the children from Learning Vision Centre, and as many people as possible, will cherish the earth they live in.

By Sharlene Tan, Diploma in Fund Management & Administration

�The strongest hearts are the ones that have been broken.� 

Setbacks are unavoidable in life, but what matters is picking yourself up.? Being one of the new members of The Write Stuff, Sharlene Tan is on her amazing journey to living life fulfilled. 

Her family and friends are the ones who have kept her going, and they mean the world to her.